Inside the department office, there was a separate office for the minister, separated by a glass partition.
The office could be seen from the outside, but at the moment it was only Namiya and Chiaros inside the minister's office.
Chiaros thought to himself:
'Is this place hell?'
He had never faced such difficulty in his life before.
"once again."
Namiya said gently, holding out a red pen.
"Here, here, and here.
This is wrong.
The day should be indicated like this: 'Mon', not 'Monday'.
The time should also be written as '14:00', not '2pm'."
In fact, Chiaros had seen all the documents before.
But the problem was that Namiya asked him to verify even the smallest details that did not conform to the standards of preparing official documents.
“…I don’t think higher-ranking officials would have checked everything.”
Kiaros couldn't help but say that, and Namiia laughed lightly.
“Kibun.”
"Yes?"
“Are you the Crown Prince?”
“……”
“Your Highness would have seen everything.”
'No, I won't see that!'
'Honestly, I didn't look that much!'
Chiaros was silently suffering for the lack of words in this discussion.
“We are not in a normal situation now.”
Namiya said softly.
“The writing may be messy, but what if this was code?”
"code…?"
“The spies who infiltrated our department.
The ones who attacked His Highness the Crown Prince and smeared the reputation of Her Majesty the Empress.”
Kiaros furrowed his eyebrows.
Namiye's expression was grim.
“They may have put codes in official documents.
They may not be according to the standards for preparing documents, but they pass approval from above.
If I were in their place, I would use such methods to exchange information.”
Kiaros's pen trembled.
He was always in a position to review final documents.
But he had never produced a document himself, so he had never considered such a possibility.
“So, everything needs to be checked and corrected, just in case it's a code.
And even if it's not a code but just a bug?”
“Even then, it should be modified.”
“But it's too much work.”
"That's why I'm going to do it myself.
I can't delegate a task like this to other employees, especially when it's something that doesn't even appear in the records."
“What about me?”
“You are my secretary, so you will help me.
And you dare to talk to me informally?”
“Sorry...”
Namiya seemed completely out of touch with the mastermind.
Spies won't get that far.
‘Maybe she is a loyal employee of the imperial family…’
Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to work hard on something that is invisible to others and unappreciated.
Meanwhile, she was also dealing with the essential tasks that a minister should carry out with the utmost diligence.
‘Hmm…’
No, she was doing most of the department's work.
Even preparing budget proposals to send to the Ministry of Finance, with truly amazing speed.
While Kiaros was examining Namya's documents, she said to him:
“Pay attention to basic formulas and writing styles.”
“Excuse me?”
“From now on, you have to help me with these matters as well.”
“…Do secretaries do this kind of work too?”
“It's my job, so help is essential.”
“Does the Minister personally undertake these tasks?”
"not quite."
Namiya explained calmly:
“There's no one in this department who knows how to do these things.”
"…What?"
“No one taught us how to prepare official documents properly or anything like that.”
“In this case...”
Kiaros narrowed his eyes.
But the documents Namiya was preparing were flawless.
As the final reviewer of so many documents, he could think of no one other than the Minister of Finance who could amend the documents with such precision and speed.
“How does the former minister know that?”
He knew that Namiya didn't transfer between departments, which meant that there was no one to teach her these skills.
“There was no one to teach the minister either.”
“……”
'True.'
Kiaros thought quickly as he looked at her face.
If you don't answer now, he'll have to ask later when he returns to Kiaros.
'She still looks a little thin...
I wonder if she's eating right...
I've given her a lot of food stamps.
He was going to say, “Thank you for saving me, let’s eat together.”
And suddenly…
The bell signaled lunch time.
The department's employees began to disperse quickly like flowing water.
Namiya stretched and said:
“You should go to lunch too.”
Kiaros blinked.
“What about you, Minister?”
Namiya looked surprised.
“Did you just ask me how I was going to eat lunch?”
"Yes."
“In this case, no.
In the language of the Empire, this phrase means something terrible: ‘Would the Minister like to have lunch together?’”
“Ah?”
Kiaros did not understand anything that Namiya said, so he asked her with a very puzzled look:
“Why can't I say that if that's what it means?”
"Are you crazy?
You're having lunch with your boss voluntarily?
Just bid them farewell with a nod and leave as quickly as you can."
Kiaros silently decided to back down from his idea of proposing to have a meal together later.
While he was lost in thought, Namiya watched him silently.
Then she said slowly:
“Well, technically, this is normal, but since you are an apprentice on your first day, I should take care of you, right?”
“Hmm?”
“Let's go.”
Namiya stood up with a smile.
Then she said confidently, raising her chin:
“Let's go have an extravagant meal with this sister.”
As someone who had always been well-off and used to being at the top, this was the first time Chiaros had heard such words.
But…
'What is this...?'
His heartbeat accelerated.
✧✧✧✧✧✧
I was reckless.
Even if I was the boss, and they might not want to see me for no reason, I should have behaved better on my first day of work.
But, if we look closely, it wasn't the first real day of work.
‘At least on the first day, I joined the department members as they rushed to eat lunch.’
Now that I was in the Secretary's office, I missed the opportunity to be among the rest of the department.
She looked at Kibun for a moment.
He looked confused.
'correct.
He actually lives in a strange country, so I don't think he'd want to eat lunch alone.'
I should have told the other staff to take the Kepone before lunch time.
But everyone has already left.
In the end, I had no choice but to have a meal with Kibun.
Of course, it would be annoying and uncomfortable for Kibune, so she thought of buying something luxurious.
'I have a lot of food stamps.'
Almost all of the food stamps I got from Kiaros were for two people.
It was annoying to use alone, and I didn't have anyone to invite, so I put it aside.
“Come on, let's go.”
I chose a place close to the Imperial Palace among the food vouchers, and went with Kibun.
When Kibon saw the food voucher she handed to the employee, he looked surprised.
As soon as the appetizers arrived, I raised the spoon and said to the employee:
“Sorry, but our lunch break is only one hour.
Can you please serve the food quickly?”
The employee nodded understandingly and hurried towards the kitchen.
Kibun looked around and said:
“A meal like this seems too long...
After deducting the commute time, we'll need to eat and be gone in about 30 minutes.”
“Exactly.
So eat quickly.”
More confusion appeared on Kibun's face.
“If you were going to gorge yourself like this, why did you invite me?
You could have come with someone else after work.”
"I couldn't think of anyone else to invite.
I have no friends."
“Okay, okay...”
Kibune suggested, blinking.
“If you can't think of anyone, why don't you think of the person who gave you this coupon...?”
There were rumors spreading within the palace that I had rejected Kiaros.
In the midst of all this, I didn't even want to tell an intern that the voucher was from the Crown Prince.
So, I just shrugged and said:
“Oh, my boss gave it to me.”
“…….”
"Is it reasonable for me to have a meal with my boss after work?
That would be uncomfortable."
“…….”
Kiaros was actually her boss, so this wasn't a lie.
Kibune drank water instead of answering.
Then, suddenly, he said:
“It's okay for me to have a meal with my boss.”
“Ah, okay.”
“Don't you want to know why?”
“I'm not curious because I think you'll change your mind about that soon anyway.”
“…….”
Meanwhile, the appetizers arrived.
I took a quick bite and continued:
“Anyway… even if it seems rushed, I wanted to give you something special.”
Hearing this, Kibun, who was quietly holding his spoon, looked at me carefully and asked:
“…why?”
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